The housing market is gradually regaining momentum after several months of muted activity, according to Zillow's February housing market report.
Nationwide, the typical home value rose 0.4% year-over-year to $361,371, marking the first increase in seven months, while existing home sales climbed 1.8% compared with a year ago. The rebound suggests that January's slower pace was largely the result of severe winter weather rather than a broader market slowdown, said Zillow.
Lower mortgage rates have bolstered affordability, giving median-income households roughly $30,000 more in purchasing power over the past year, according to the home marketplace. At the same time, the typical monthly mortgage payment, excluding taxes and insurance, dropped 7.7% from a year ago to $1,738, making it more feasible for buyers to enter the market despite ongoing price pressures in some regions.
Inventory patterns in February were complex but increasingly supportive of transactions. There were 1.12 million homes for sale nationwide, up 5% from a year earlier, while new for-sale listings totaled 283,478, down 3% from last February but up 4.9% from January, reflecting lingering winter weather disruptions.
Homes moved to pending status faster than in January, with newly pending listings rising 3.5% year-over-year and 11.1% month-over-month. The share of listings with price reductions declined slightly to 20.3%, down 1.3 percentage points from a year ago, suggesting sellers are adjusting pricing more strategically rather than broadly discounting properties.
Metro-level trends highlight the uneven nature of the recovery. High-cost coastal cities, including San Francisco, San Jose and New York posted modest value gains of between 0.3%–0.6% month-over-month as buyers competed for limited inventory, while some Sun Belt markets, particularly Dallas and Tampa, saw continued softening in home prices.
Fast-growing mid-sized metros and cities in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast saw rising inventory alongside an uptick in pending sales, with Portland, Oregon, posting a 14.4% year-over-year increase in homes available and Seattle generating a 28.4% gain.
Homes that went pending in February did so in a median of 28 days — four days longer than a year ago but 19 days shorter than in January — reflecting both seasonal fluctuations and localized buyer demand.
In many metro areas, homes in desirable neighborhoods moved even faster, while markets with higher inventory saw a wider spread in time on market. Rental markets mirrored these patterns, with the typical rent rising 1.9% year-over-year to $1,895, while high-cost metros saw stronger rent growth. For example, New York rents climbed 4.2% and San Francisco rents increased 6.3% year-over-year compared with more modest gains seen in other regions.
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